It is the tale of “Love. Corruption. Ambition.” It is a story of three childhood buddies, Gopal, Raghav and Aarti. Like every common kid around the world, these three also have a dream. Aarti wants to become an airhostess, Gopal wants to become a rich man, and Raghav wants to bring out a change in the corrupted system of India. 

REVOLUTION 2020

By Chetan Bhagat

296 pages, Rupa publications

Revolution 2020 is the fifth novel of four bestselling novels author, Chetan Bhagat. Like you can see in the tagline of the title of this novel, it is the tale of “Love. Corruption. Ambition.” It is a story of three childhood buddies, Gopal, Raghav and Aarti. Like every common kid around the world, these three also have a dream. Aarti wants to become an airhostess, Gopal wants to become a rich man, and Raghav wants to bring out a change in the corrupted system of India.

The story starts in the cultural capital of India, Varanasi. Gopal hails from a lower middle class family (his father is a teacher, loans are piling over him), whereas Raghav’s family has good financial status. They both are best friends. At the beginning of the story, they are in school where they stole cake from a newcomer, Aarti. She hails from elite family (her dad is DM). Eventually, these three becomes best friends. Their friendship is as thick as blood. Their path aparts when the results of JEE and AIEEE comes out.

In both the competitions, Raghav gets very good marks in the entra but Gopal fails to get admission in any IITs or NITs.

From the early days, Gopal is smitten by Aarti but she doesn’t feel the same. Things becomes worse when Raghav gets into IIT, Gopal goes to Kota for coaching, Aarti stays in Varanasi and starts dating Raghav.

Later on, Gopal gets distracted and he fails again to get good marks in the engineering entrance. Shortly after, he loses his father and comes to know that Aarti and Raghav are together. Shattered and heart broken, Gopal falls into the trap of “rampant corruption”. Raghav decides to become a journalist, Aarti starts working in a hotel.

Shukla Ji is a politician, who lures Gopal to give in to the corrupted system, and      makes him director of an engineering college. He tells Gopal, “Anybody with experience in a shady business does really well in education. These quotes from the novel sums up the thought of the current founders of private engineering college; “stupid people go to college. Smart people own them.”

Through this novel, Bhagat has tried to tell the stories of all the parent who spends all their life savings on their kid’s coaching for preparation for engineering and medical college’s entrance. He tells the harsh truth behind all this fiasco: “For the job and dowry market a B.TECH degree never hurt.” He tried to bring out the loopholes of Indian educational system into attention: “I imagined myself in a sea, along with lakhs of other low-rankers, kicking and screaming to breathe. The waters closed over us, making us irrelevant to the Indian education system.”

This novel was the most awaited novel of Chetan Bhagat. Two years after “Two States”, this novel was published. Seeing the name, people expected more than just a chick-flick with love triangle. Bhagat has a very unique and interesting way of writing but in this novel he somehow failed to bring out his witty side . From the delicate way, he explained each and every Ghats and places in the novel, we can say that he did his research well. Like his every other novel, we get an optimistic vibe in Gopal’s character. You can notice that in the novel in quotes like, “I’m from varanasi, where the world comes to die.”

First half of the novel deals with some irrelevant issues which has no connections with the title. However, Chetan Bhagat tried to fix it up in the last part, he has shown how Gopal lets his love go for the sake of his country. He has given contribution to the revolution.

Despite all other factors, this novel is an average read, which deals with a very serious story. Every teenager must read this story, I am sure you can relate this story with your own struggles. He has urged the youth to take a vow against corruption.